86 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



there was on the other side of the point a broad and apparently navigable 

 channel, through which the tide was setting to the northward, at the rate of 

 three or four miles an hour, I am thus minute in the discovery of this chan- 

 nel, which afterwards promised to be of no small importance, to shew how 

 nearly such a place may be approached without the slightest suspicion being 

 entertained of its existence, and the consequent necessity of close examina- 

 tion, wherever a passage is to be sought for. An inspection of the chart, 

 together with the narrative of our proceedings for the four or live following 

 days, will afford a striking and perhaps a useful lesson in this respect. 



On proceeding in the boats, we found a part of the channel occupied by a 

 small rocky islet nearest to the eastern shore, having a bed of sunken rocks 

 about it, over which the tide was setting with great rapidity and with a loud 

 noise like that of a mill-stream. The passage to the westward of the islet 

 is half a mile wide, and we could find no bottom in it with twelve fathoms of 

 line ; on the other side the water is very shoal, scarcely affording a passage 

 for boats at low tide. Beyond this channel, which we distinguished by the 

 name of the Rapids, the inlet again widens out considerably, turning to the 

 westward and afterwards to the northward, a circumstance which could not 

 fail to excite in us the most lively hopes and expectations. At noon we 

 had reached a place where it branched off in so many different directions, 

 that our present stock of provisions appeared insufficient to enable us to 

 accomplish its complete examination. I therefore determined to send Mr. 

 Sherer back to the ships for a fresh supply, as soon as the tide should turn 

 in his favour. That we might lose none of the favourable tide now running, 

 we dined in the boats, and being in the mean time carried onward a considerable 

 distance, at half-past one we landed on an island, in order to make the neces- 

 sary arrangements for despatching Mr. Sherer, as well as to obtain a view of 

 the surrounding lands. The latter object was, however, defeated by hard rain, 

 which came on soon after, rendering the atmosphere extremely thick. The 

 next island to the northward was chosen as our rendezvous, and a particular 

 point of it agreed on as the spot at which, in passing, we should leave in- 

 structions for Mr. Sherer's guidance in following us. He left us at half-past 

 two and the tide being strong in his favour, he succeeded in reaching the 

 Hecla the same night. 



In the mean time, we made sail for Rendezvous Island with a strong breeze 

 from the eastward, accompanied by torrents of rain ; and having fetched a little 

 bay on its south-west side, pitched our tents on the beach, on which were 



